In a Micro-World Magnified a Thousand Times, They Craft the "Ruler" for Cutting-Edge Manufacturing | Exploring New Quality Productivity Among Hundreds of Enterprises · Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative

On April 16, 2025, Southern Daily published a special report titled "In a Micro-World Magnified a Thousand Times, They Craft the 'Ruler' for Cutting-Edge Manufacturing | Exploring New Quality Productivity Among Hundreds of Enterprises · Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative", focusing on our company's innovative breakthroughs in the field of microscopic precision manufacturing. The detailed content is as follows:

At BoardStone Intelligent's laboratory, placing a precision mold onto a flash measurement instrument immediately displays various parameters like geometric shape and dimensional accuracy on a nearby screen. "The flash measurement instrument is like the eyes of R&D personnel. It can magnify and measure the object under test, making it a powerful tool for exploring the microscopic world," said Cheng Hengheng, CEO of BoardStone Intelligent.

Measurement capability is fundamentally linked to solving quality issues in high-end equipment manufacturing. Currently, for China's equipment manufacturing to advance from mid-to-low end to mid-to-high end, the primary challenge is resolving manufacturing quality issues, with the core key being solving the problem of ultra-precision measurement capability.

Headquartered in Shenzhen, BoardStone Intelligent (Atometrics), founded in 2020, has maintained a 100% compound annual growth rate in revenue. It is a high-tech enterprise focused on providing precision instruments and semiconductor inspection equipment for the processes of intelligent manufacturing and scientific research. Notably, just three years after its founding, BoardStone Intelligent was designated as a national-level "Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative Little Giant".

Specialist in high-precision measuring instruments

Creating Miracles with Extreme Precision
A medium-precision lithography machine contains over 30,000 optical-mechanical components, 70% of which are precision or ultra-precision grade, requiring more than 600 types of dedicated precision and ultra-precision measurement instruments. This highlights the importance of ultra-precision measurement in enhancing the quality of high-end equipment manufacturing.

Many products require precision down to the micro or nano scale—thinner than a human hair—or even sub-nanometer scale (one hundred-thousandth of a millimeter; a human hair is about 0.06 mm in diameter). This ultra-high precision is precisely the core competitiveness of many foreign equipment manufacturers; their product competitiveness stems from superior accuracy.

Cheng Hengheng previously held a long-term position at Keyence, an international leader in 3D vision. He noted that 3D vision inspection solutions were once monopolized by foreign giants. "Cutting-edge equipment like global high-end scientific research and inspection instruments were all dominated by foreign behemoths."

However, being perpetually dependent on others for inspection equipment, and facing sales restrictions to important domestic research institutions and enterprises by these foreign companies, led him to believe this presented a new market opportunity.

Foreign industrialization began over a century earlier than in China, and their inspection equipment has undergone long-term accumulation. Surpassing them is no easy feat.

Fortunately, on one hand, China possesses the world's most complete industrial chain, providing a rich landscape of application scenarios for technology. On the other hand, China has an invaluable talent pool, stemming from the accumulated dividends of engineers and scientists cultivated over decades in the manufacturing sector.

"Breakthroughs in software algorithms can compensate for weaknesses in hardware. Moreover, many enterprises are willing to give domestic equipment a chance for trial and error," Cheng said, citing this as the "confidence" that emboldened him to start his own business. To date, nearly fifty out of BoardStone Intelligent's over 100 employees are dedicated to software algorithms.

Every industrial transformation stimulates demand for new technologies. BoardStone Intelligent caught the wave of the AI explosion era. Its developed scientific research instruments and semiconductor inspection equipment can be applied for yield rate inspection in industries like semiconductors and precision optical devices. In the past, production required less precision, sometimes detectable by employees using high-magnification microscopes. With the rise of AI, demand for high-precision micro-inspection has surged dramatically.

In the optics field, clients use semiconductor processes to fabricate micro-lenses. Taking an eight-inch wafer as an example, each micro-lens is only the size of a pinhead, with thousands to tens of thousands per wafer. Previously, inspecting 10 wafers required 10 people working for 10 days. Now, simply placing them on BoardStone Intelligent's equipment yields results with automated statistical analysis within an hour.

Competing on "Speed"
Globally, the white light interferometer’s market for scientific research instruments and inspection equipment is relatively mature.

Cheng Hengheng admits that in many cases, the competition isn't about having what others don't, but about who can run faster and better. Clients' products are constantly updating; for instance, hardware products from Apple and Huawei innovate and iterate annually, which in turn necessitates new inspection methods. Meeting client needs better and faster is crucial. BoardStone Intelligent collaborated with an Intel supply chain enterprise, delivering a required solution in just one month, whereas a traditional supplier required 8 months to a year.

In the field of flash measurement instruments for rapid measurement of precision parts, the global high-end market is largely monopolized by a well-known Japanese enterprise. Especially among Japanese-funded enterprises in China, they often prefer domestic Japanese brands when choosing such instruments.

At that time, a renowned Japanese joint-venture automaker in Shanghai planned to purchase a batch of flash measurement instruments for vehicle component quality inspection. After comparing multiple brands, the company found that Atometrics's flash measurement instrument performed and operated on par with a leading Japanese brand's product. Using Atometrics's product also required minimal training, significantly reducing the learning cost and application barrier for new equipment adoption.

During the product benchmarking test phase, an engineer from the company initiated an impromptu communication to address an urgent production line issue. Even though it was 7 PM on a Friday, Atometrics's engineering team responded promptly, resolving the problem within 30 minutes.

It's important to note that Japanese and Korean enterprises tend to be relatively conservative with deep-rooted brand loyalty, making it very difficult to penetrate their supply chains. "Even if our technology is on par with international giants, why should they buy from us? What they value besides performance is service. Can we immediately develop features clients request?" Cheng said.

"Would clients buy just because it's cheaper? Actually, industrial clients are often more value-sensitive than price-sensitive. For example, we have a client in the optical chip field. During their R&D phase, they needed to inspect several critical product parameters. No product on the market had this function. A competitor quoted 9 months for development, but we only needed 2 months," Cheng said. BoardStone Intelligent successfully secured this client. As the client progressed from R&D to mass production, their needs grew, leading to further equipment purchases.

Historically, international giants have long dominated the high-end scientific instrument market. However, this monopoly has fostered a bad habit: an often "take it or leave it" attitude towards clients, where the sales representative, as the supplier, ironically holds the upper hand, showing neglect towards many clients.

In contrast, startups cherish every opportunity clients give them. "Chinese people possess extraordinary diligence and hard work. As long as a client gives us a testing opportunity, I have the ability to expand our share and secure more orders," Cheng said.

For a technology-focused company, it's easy to fall into the trap of "technology supremacy"—making technology the starting point for business decisions rather than market demand. BoardStone Intelligent requires accompanying clients in R&D. "The biggest taboo for R&D personnel is locking themselves in the lab, thinking their developed product is amazing. In reality, client needs are relatively complex, posing many questions. Product managers and market colleagues must go to the client frontline together to deeply understand their needs. Only then will the developed product be what clients want and be competitive," Cheng said.

Aiming for Industry "Number One"
In a niche industrial sector, the test is often whether a company can endure solitude and resist temptation.

Data compiled by Yidu Data and Zhiyan Consulting shows China's electronic measurement instrument market size grew from 30.854 billion RMB in 2019 to 37.778 billion RMB in 2023. Market forecasts predict it will exceed 40 billion RMB in 2024 and reach 42.29 billion RMB in 2025. Among these, high-precision measurement instruments have become one of the most important growth poles.

"The market size for each sub-category of scientific research instruments and inspection equipment is relatively small. The hard tech field is highly specialized, with many market temptations. Recognizing one's own strengths is critical," Cheng believes. The focus should be on the confirmed product direction, thoroughly perfecting products one by one before considering expanding into new categories. Prioritizing being "specialized" is higher than being "big."

A salesperson once mentioned that high-precision optical inspection could be applied to yield rate inspection for a certain product, potentially resulting in a few hundred orders nationwide. However, for BoardStone Intelligent at present, focus is more important—it's about making decisions on what not to do.

"Are you number one in performance for this category? What is your market share in this industry? Is there still room for growth in this industry? Only if the answer to all three is 'yes' can you consider a new track. Otherwise, you have no reason to do it," Cheng said. Many entrepreneurs might see opportunities everywhere but fail to deeply comprehend the challenges posed by industry barriers and core technologies in new fields. In Japan, around terminal enterprises like Toyota, there are many small suppliers with just a few or a dozen people, offering highly specialized products and services, giving rise to many century-old enterprises.

By persisting in high-quality domestic substitution, BoardStone Intelligent's main product average selling price continues to grow at an annual rate of around 15%. Furthermore, the higher the product positioning, the less intense the competition in the domestic market tends to be. BoardStone Intelligent is also gradually gaining the courage to compete overseas.

Cheng Hengheng stated that although manufacturing scenarios in European and American markets are less diverse than in China, what remains is high-end manufacturing. Only by solidifying the domestic market can one possibly compete internationally. "Benchmarking against the performance of the world's best instruments and equipment, enabling high-end instruments to secure a place internationally, is what our generation of entrepreneurs should do," he said.

[Expert Commentary]

Guo Bin, Director and Professor, Department of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy, School of Management, Zhejiang University:
Domestic substitution has become a defining, trend-driven opportunity for Chinese enterprises in the current era and a significant source for seeking incremental growth in an era of de-globalization. Due to their positioning within the national innovation system, specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative enterprises are more likely to capture such opportunities within the industrial chain. However, seizing this opportunity is not easy. The practice of BoardStone Intelligent (Atometrics) reveals strategic principles behind capturing such opportunities: enterprises need a long-term mindset, persistently investing resources and continuously iterating and developing core technologies and capabilities, sometimes even sacrificing short-term gains; they must have a profound understanding of customer needs and use these insights to guide product and technology R&D, rather than merely emphasizing technology itself; they must constantly pursue an ultimate balance among performance, price, and market responsiveness, thereby building their own competitive advantages and barriers while delivering value to customers.

Guo Lingling, Consulting Expert, Zhongjia Intellectual Property Service Group, and Listed Expert, Guangzhou SME Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative Promotion Association:
During its journey from mid-to-low end to mid-to-high end advancement in the intelligent manufacturing and scientific instrument fields, BoardStone Intelligent has emerged prominently in the market relying on outstanding)R&D capabilities. To achieve sustainable development, BoardStone Intelligent, on one hand, captures market demand, compensating for hardware shortcomings through innovative software algorithms, striving for a "corner overtaking" in ultra-precision measurement technology. On the other hand, it provides customized solutions, precisely connecting with  high-end manufacturing scenarios like semiconductors and precision optics, gaining market favor. BoardStone Intelligent's success is inseparable from its strategy of continuously seeking new growth points based on a highly specialized foundation, gradually realizing value innovation in specific scenarios through sustained product and service innovation, thereby gaining a firm foothold in the fiercely competitive market.

[Company Profile]
BoardStone Intelligent is a national-level "Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative Little Giant" enterprise headquartered in Shenzhen, focusing on providing scientific research instruments and semiconductor metrology/inspection equipment required for intelligent manufacturing and scientific research. Its standardized products serve a wide range of fields including semiconductors, precision optics, new energy, and new materials.